Pantheon
by Coutelier
Summary: On a world far from Faerun, Imoen, Minsc, Aerie and the others are worshipped as Gods. Joins an unamed scholar as he attempts to unravel some of the truth behind the myths.


_I'm not sure there will ever be another part to this; it's a silly what if kind of thing. What if all the NPC's did become gods, what would their portfolios be who would worship them etc._

**Pantheon**

When I first began writing my account of the religious rituals and practices of the continent of Qeia, I was at first disposed to think of these things as foolishness. Tales told by simple, uneducated folks in their effort to explain and understand the forces of nature. But through my studies and my own personal experiences I began to realise that not only was there much wisdom to be found in these stories of old, but there may perhaps be some truth behind them.

No one knows the exact origin of the Qeian religion, when or where the worship the current pantheon of deities started; it seems they have been worshipped throughout the entire history of the peoples here. Primitive wood carvings and wall paintings thought to date back thousands of years to when the only human populations were nomadic tribes have been found bearing what are thought by some to be early depictions of the same pantheon worshipped today. It is certain that as soon as written records began the names of the God's and Goddess' immediately begin to appear.

As far as the legend goes, it all began a long, long time ago on a world far, far away. Here there was only one God, Bhaal, sole lord of an entire world. But Bhaal was not a good God who ruled justly. Instead he destroyed entire cities for only the slightest infraction of his law and encouraged ritual murder and slavery, particulary of those who refused to worship him. His people feared him, and knowing this Bhaal became increasingly paranoid that they might try to destroy him. He demanded his priests put to death anyone suspected of plotting against them, whilst at the same time fathering many children with moral women so that should the worst happen his priests would be able to resurrect him by gathering the essence spread across the world.

And the worst did happen; whilst taking a human form Bhaal was slain by heroes carrying weapons forged of iron from beneath a holy mountain. But Bhaal's scheme didn't exactly go according to plan; rather than resurrect him, his children began to fight amongst themselves so that the most powerful would take his place. Thus began the Spawn Wars, which would devastate the entire surface of that unnamed world. Eventually one Bhaalspawn, Arion, defeated all the other bhaalspawn, save one, and claimed his fathers throne as his own. Upon doing so, he raised many of his mortal companions to serve alongside him. Initially there were only six that he raised, those who had fought alongside him in the final battle against his siblings. Later, these seven heroes would become the principal deities in the Qeian religion, although Arion later raised many other of his mortal friends upon their deaths.

However, since their own world was so battle scarred the seven set out to explore the entire universe and to find a new world to call their own. Eventually they would come to Qeia.

When they arrived, Qeia was dominated by the Gargants. These monstrous creatures had attained godlike powers through hunting the primitive humans and devouring their souls. Many tribes had only survived by offering some of their number as sacrifices, but the Gargant's appetites grew and grew and they demanded more and more souls. Arion and his companions arrived in time to witness one such offering; upon hearing the cries of a woman whose daughter was to be offered, one Goddess, Aerie's, heart clenched and she begged Arion to intervene. When at first he refused, she took it upon herself to fight the Gargant's alone. So it was that as the first monstrous giant smashed the forest trees aside on its way to claim the souls of the villagers, the Aerie appeared between them and for the first time God and Gargant fought.

Aerie defeated the monster, but her victory was short lived. Two more Gargants appeared, and these proved too much for her. But her companions would not stand by and they too joined the fray, and thus began a war that would last a hundred years by the end of which every single Gargant had been defeated and the companions from another world had earned the gratitude and worship of all the remaining tribes and in later times great statues and temples would be erected in their honour.

Some sources in fact say that Arion relinguished all of Bhaals power and never attained godhood until after travelling to Qeia and defeating the Gargants, but in any case the actions of he and his companions secured them a place in folklore of the peoples here for centuries to come.

There is also some debate over who the companions that had fought alongside Arion in the final battle against the bhaalspawn were, but the names most commonly referred to in the tales are Imoen, Jaheira, Minsc, Aerie, Anomen and Sarevok.

Here follows a brief breakdown of each of the principal Gods and Godesses:

**Arion, Leader of the Gods**

Despite being the leader Arion isn't worshipped as much as the others, although he has the final say in all things and as such it often falls to him to settle disputes. He rarely gets emotionally involved in matter and at times can appear cold and harsh. In one story, when the goddesses Jaheira and Aerie has a severe falling out, he cast them both into a dungeon together where they would encounter many monsters, traps and puzzles. He knew the two of them would have to work together to find a way out; suffice to say that when they did they weren't particularly grateful. They had indeed resolved their issues with each other, and the first act of their new closer friendship was to seek revenge on Arion.

**Imoen, The Giggling Goddess**

The sister of Arion who wilfully gave up all her father essence at the end of Spawn Wars. She is a goddess of mischief and trickery who often plays practical jokes on the others. She is close friends with Aerie and often involves the other Goddess in her schemes. On one occasion she kept replacing Anomen's trousers every night with an identical but slighter longer pair so that he became convinced he was getting shorter, and she often uses her magical powers to disquise herself as a number of creatures, usually flies and insects, and other objects so that she can spy on people's conversations.

She is often credited with a great deal of wisdom, although what wisdom she shows in the stories is often accidental. For example, when she had to retrieve an artefact from the Stronomicon, a machine that possessed all knowledge in the universe, it would only relinquish it to her if she could pose it a question it couldn't answer.

Imoen asked it many questions, and each time it came back with the correct answer. Eventually she threw her arms up in frustration, saying 'This is pointless! What _don't_ you know?"

It turned out, it didn't know the answer to that.

Good natured rogues, comedians and many teenagers particularly of the sort who don't want to go to school, worship Imoen, hoping she will grant them some of her inventiveness.

**Jaheira, The Earth Goddess**

As well as presiding over all the natural world, Jaheira is also worshipped by a number of female, and even male warriors who seek her strength and wisdom in battle.

Although often appearing a severe and harsh mistress, she is shown to have a caring maternal side and despite rocky relationships at times is very much looked up to by Aerie and the other Goddesses. It is Jaheira who trains others in the arts of self defence.

**Minsc, The Mad God of Battle**

Not much to say really; Minsc is big and strong and he loves to fight. Warriors worship him hoping he will grant them his fearlessness in battle. He is often depicted carrying a small rodent on his shoulder, although it's significance has somehow been lost through the ages.

**Aerie, The Guardian Goddess**

Aerie is the most widely worshipped of all the Gods. Commonly she's thought of as a Goddess of healing and wisdom, but she is in fact a patron of all types of magic and science and has blessed many explorers and adventurers.

As the most compassionate Goddess, she's the one most people pray to in times of need as she's the one most likely to listen to their pleas.

Depictions of Aerie vary; usually she holds a small shield and a mace, but half her statues show her with a pair of bird like wings and half of them are without. No one seems sure why there's such a discrepancy.

**Anomen, God of Justice**

A fair judge, but equally he can be a fierce executioner. He is said to have given law to the Qeian people. As far as his character is concerned, he is usually honourable although at times emotional stresses get the better of him. There are occasions when he can seem like a bully, taking out his anger on those he perceives weaker than him self, although such episodes are thankfully short lived and order is usually restored soon after.

**Sarevok, God of War**

Unsurprising the God of War is the least popular of the seven principal deities. And yet Generals will always seek out his counsel hoping he grant some of his guile and cunning.

Sarevok was he brother of Arion and slain at the start of the Spawn Wars. Later he was resurrected, but he had lost his fathers essence. Of course, when he came to Qeia he would finally attain the Godhood he desired anyway.

Other less well known deities include Nalia the patroness of politics and politicians, Jan the God of invention, Edwin the God of dark magic, Viconia the Goddess of lies and deception, Valygar the hunter and many more.

Viconia is possibly the hardest Goddess to understand. At times she is helpful and at other times treacherous. She often taunts the others and goads them into fighting her. Emotionally she seems very unstable. As well as lies, she is also a goddess of vengeange and of lust but not in fact love.

Next time we will delve deeper into the myths about the Gods and the Qeian heroes who have interacted with them.


End file.
